Suddenly struck me after arriving at the local World Cup village (out door boozer and big screen) after the Serbian goal was scored that I have seen bits of every game live thus far but not seen a single goal scored live yet. I am not planning to watch all of England v Tunisia live you will be relieved to know.

Transfer window closes on 9 August this year. Just 53 more days to wait for Chaddy to sign on that freebie.

Thus far been an excellent World Cup for European nations. Just wait for you know who to blow it tomorrow...

So four games today. Big wins for France and Argentina, draws in the other two.

Classic autocorrect!

A Salah-less Egypt made it seriously hard for Uruguay so that should be a warning not to take Tunisia for granted.

I have lost track- what is this competition supposed to be?

Colombia beat France in a game of five soft goals-

The extent of the failure of the Russian World Cup to attract fans: https://skift.com/2018/06/14/russia-faces-an-uphill-climb-to-turn-world-cup-into-tourism-win/?utm_campaign=Daily Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=63749517&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_o1JbNyttaz27U9jHGSs93EYKiZFU40-_GGAB4gZIz1oSVtXhmhZwhXYVOb52lcacQ2B_SQB4C6AX1UxKWyG_BAaGz5Q&_hsmi=63749517

http://www.newsweek.com/russian-women-warned-refuse-sex-foreigners-during-world-cup-974800?utm_source=email&utm_medium=morning_brief&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=read_more&spMailingID=3536475&spUserID=MTI0NzM3MDEwNDYS1&spJobID=1050514009&spReportId=MTA1MDUxNDAwOQS2 Perhaps explains why none of the "Characters" I know have bothered with the WC this year...

Reputably inaccurate if not a tip-off from the nameless one.

It looked like a bubble before- still is bubble-ish

Well done Scotland's cricketers. Belting wicket too.

Agree re Shelvey and also agree with jim re Sterling at City. Rashford is potentially explosive from the bench taking off a midfielder in the 60th minute to turn a lead into a rout.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/opinion/sunday/world-cup-fifa-corruption-russia.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20180608&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=7&nlid=51793659emc%3Dedit_ty_20180608&ref=headline&te=1 Why the Steele Dossier has the credibility it has.

So this looks like Everton, Spuds, Citeh, Leicester, Spuds, Liverpool, Spuds, Manc, Citeh, Spuds, Spuds. Good for making chips from.

Brilliant piece on Douglas. Was enjoying my early Saturday morning walk and realised the World Cup starts five days from now- zero buzz or evidence of it. Not seen any adverts or merchandising relating to it. Ok only been in five countries recently and all did not qualify but still... Tried another thought experiment and realised that this is the first World Cup I have been old enough to know about such things (ie since 1962) that I know nobody going to the World Cup to watch it from the stands (as opposed to watching from the subs bench...).

England will have a decent world cup by recent standards until the second knock out round when they face either Brazil or Germany. Both are beatable by England but won't be. For once unless Colombia show hidden capabilities, coming first or second in our group isn't going to matter much for getting through the first knock out round. I expect England v Belgium to be a draw despite Belgium being comfortably the better side.

Group A analysed by American statos- https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/uruguay-got-the-world-cups-ultimate-prize-russias-group/?ex_cid=SigDig Russia v Saudi Arabia matches the two lowest ranking nations for the tournament opener. It could be a kick and run classic... or probably not.

What World Cup? FIFA dropped a clanger giving it to the evil empire- zero merchandising and promo

Playing in skins this season

I was right about Chaddy signing on a free then.. Congratulations Chaddy!

Watched 1H Austria v Germany from sodden Klagenfurt. - wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a serious injury; both sides making tasty challenges in treacherous conditions - Germany have some man mountain defenders - Ozil scored which says everything about a pretty disjointed looking German attack - three seriously bad defensive mistakes by Germany which Austria failed to make anything of - we all know the Germans start slowly but this looks a bit more like needing to raise the dead

A keeper if we have the £

Just flicked through this thread and I am right in concluding we are signing Chaddy on a free?